View source for Margarita Bella

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'''1032 3rd Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN'''
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[[Image:Svc_mgtabella.jpg]]
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<small>'''Business card of a Margarita Bella employee, who is also an artist.  Courtesy of the [[Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection]].'''</small>
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| The Twin Cities have been home to an active Hispanic population for most of the 20th century.  Initially, immigrants from Mexico settled on the [[West Side Flats]] in St. Paul, but as time progressed,<small>(1)</small> Chicano and Latino people migrated to most of St. Paul’s West Side and to South Central Minneapolis.  Imbued with a spirit of entrepreneurialism, the communities revitalized declining commercial corridors and re-established a sense of place to depressed areas.<small>(2)</small>


The populations also added a much-needed vibrancy and diversity to the prevailing culture of Minnesota, which was once dictated by German, Irish, and Scandinavian immigrants.<small>(3)</small>  The influence of Hispanic culture is even evident in neighborhoods outside of Chicano/Latino neighborhoods—this is the case with Margartia Bella.


Raul Sacta—an Ecuadorian immigrant—opened Margarita Bella in Northeast Minneapolis after a strenuous license contest with the city of Minneapolis.<small>(4)</small> He did not open the bar purely for LGBT Latinos; instead, the businessman opened his doors to everyone.  The establishment’s popularity with the whole Hispanic community inspired a similar popularity among queer people.  In many respects, Margarita Bella became the first queer Hispanic bar in the Twin Cities.
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The establishment’s opening had perfect timing. Immigrants from Latin America carry the stigmas of their home countries with them, and HIV/AIDS is a subject that is surrounded with misinformation all over the world.  Locally, these myths ranged from assumptions of homosexuality to the belief that one could be arrested for carrying the virus.<small>(5)</small>
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| [[Image:Svc_mbella.jpg]] '''<small>'''The Exterior of Margartia Bella in the 2000s.'''</small>'''
| In addition to weekly “Gay Nights” and  drag shows, Margarita Bella hosted evenings with “La Coco,” a drag queen who instructed patrons about safe sex and other forms of HIV/AIDS prevention.<small>(6)</small>  Sadly, this essential community establishment closed due to financial issues.  
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[[Image:Svc_mbelladrag.jpg]]
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<small>'''Advertisement for Magarita Bella's weekly drag shows. Courtesy of the [[Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection]].'''</small>
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Presently, the site is occupied by a gay piano/sports bar named Tickles.


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==This entry is part of:==
== [[Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-2010)]]==
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<small>(1)</small> Millet, Larry.  AIA guide to the Twin Cities. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007. Page 401.

<small>(2)</small> Nelson, Paul; Lyons, Lisa; and Peterson, Cassie.  Tour St. Paul: West Side.  St. Paul: Tour St. Paul, N.D.

<small>(3)</small> Holmquist, June Drenning.  They Chose Minnesota:A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups.  St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981. Pages 111-296.  

<small>(4)</small> "Proposed Bar in Cedar-Riverside at Center of Development Brawl"  ''The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, '' 3/4/2002

<small>(5)</small>Vazquez Toness, Bianca.  "Latino HIV AIDS Education Takes to the Streets."  Minnesota Public Radio, 5/9/2005.

<small>(6)</small> ''Ibid.''

Part of [[Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)]]